(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle information recording system for recording information concerning a vehicle.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been an increasing number of devices with functions of supporting a driver's recognition, judgment and operation based on information that is obtained from various types of sensors which are mounted in a vehicle such as a car.
For example, a system for acquiring information such as weather, temperature, humidity and traffic condition and offering such information to a driver has been realized. Also, other systems have been under study, such as a system for giving a warning to a driver while driving in foreseeable danger based on the comparison between lane markers, traffic lights and speed signs that are obtained by pictures taken by an in-vehicle camera and separately calculated vehicle speed data and control data, and a system for giving a warning to a driver by calculating his lines of vision and blinks based on pictures taken by a camera to detect his drowsiness.
On the other hand, there is an idea of storing various information which is acquired by these sensors as driving situations so as to apply such information to the determination of the causes of a traffic accident, an analysis of the driver's driving skill and an analysis of the vehicle's response.
For example, a driving information recording device has been proposed which not only offers driving information that is acquired from various in-vehicle sensors to a driver but which also stores the information in an in-vehicle storage medium. (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H7-93627.) This driving information recording device has a function as a system for outputting the stored driving information in the case of an accident, as well as a function as a system for offering appropriate driving information to the driver while driving in a normal condition. This driving information recording device makes it possible to theorize as to the causes of the accident by analyzing the stored driving information which is acquired just before and after the accident.
Furthermore, a driving situation recording device has also been proposed. This driving situation recording device includes a recording unit which periodically records pictures from the inside or outside of the vehicle that are taken by a surveillance camera in addition to driving information such as GPS (global positioning system) data, vehicle speed data, steering angle data and braking data, and a control unit which stops the recording unit to record the pictures and the driving information when an accident occurs. (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H11-298853.) This driving situation recording device makes it possible to store the driving information that is acquired for a fixed time period just before the accident so as to acquire information which is useful for analyzing the causes of the accident.
However, according to both of these conventional devices, an accident is analyzed based on the data which is acquired by the vehicle that is involved in the accident. Therefore, there is a problem in that the accident is analyzed based on only the pictures which are taken by the camera in the vehicle that is involved in the accident. In the case of an accident between two or more vehicles, for instance, the pictures of one vehicle which are taken from the other vehicle can only be obtained. Therefore, there is a problem in that clear circumstances of the accident are not available, and thus, the accident cannot be specifically analyzed.
There is also a problem in that the data such as the pictures cannot be acquired just after the accident when the in-vehicle camera is damaged, and thus, the accident cannot be specifically analyzed.